Bath

After our first and only full English in our B&B (sadly, it didn't include black pudding for Adrian. He also missed out last night when the Black and Blue Burger on the menu was just Blue!), we headed out to the Roman Baths (a leisurely 15 minutes after opening time).

The Romans started to develop Aquae Sulis (the Roman name for Bath) in 43AD and built a temple to the goddess Sulis Minerva in around 60AD. The Georgians came along in the 18th century and built their own bathhouse over the top for the "leisurely" classes to take in the healing waters, but did find and preserve much of the Roman plumbing underneath. Seeing the Roman ingenuity, with hot baths (caldarium), cold plunge pools (frigidarium) and a pleasant sounding tepidarium was fascinating; as well as the interesting artefacts like a hoard of 17,600 Roman coins and ancient curse tablets (like a curse on someone for stealing your clothes at the baths, for example).

After the Baths, we wandered around the beautiful streets and laneways, and to the other main sites, the Circus and Royal Crescent. The area really makes you feel like you are walking into a Jane Austen novel (she lived nearby for a few years) and that you could call on someone for tea and cake in the front parlour. 🫖🍰 In fact, the whole town was very much built for the idle rich to be idle in!

It was an Autumnal, have-soup-for-lunch kind of day, and so we found a wine bar restaurant that made the best fish soup we've ever had. 👌😋

After lunch, we followed the walking trail along the River Avon, seeing beautiful reflections of the city, narrow barge boats that (skinny) people live on, and a family of swans, before heading back to our B&B to get ready for our departure tomorrow.Read more